Kane & Emily

We share a love story that began long before we actually started dating. We attended Bradley University at the same time, knew many of the same people, and even had fraternity brothers and sorority sisters who married one another, but our paths never truly crossed until after college.

We connected after Kane moved back closer to home to continue his teaching career while Emily was pursuing her master’s degree. A shared love of classic rock and basketball brought us together, but what has kept us together is how well we complement one another.

We often say we are the yin to each other’s yang. We share the same values of honesty, integrity, adventure, and experiencing the world, but we approach life from different angles. Where one sees opportunity, the other offers perspective; where one plans, the other helps bring that plan to life. Together, we are better than either of us would be alone. That is what makes our marriage not just a love story, but a lifelong partnership.

Peoria, Illinois is a city we first fell in love with while attending Bradley University. And today, we live outside that city in a quiet, blue-collar neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac, where traffic is rare and our backyard opens into a peaceful wooded area.

Living near Peoria gives us the best of both worlds: a close-knit neighborhood with easy access to museums, baseball games, concerts, parks, and other family activities. We also have strong local schools that offer small class sizes and plenty of opportunities as children grow.

Of course, home would not be complete without Moses and Joanie, our bonded pair of pitties who spend most evenings snuggled beside us on the couch.

When your baby enters our family, they will inherit a large, fun, energetic group of people ready to welcome them with open arms. We both grew up in close-knit families, and one of our greatest blessings is how naturally our two families have become one family of their own. Since we first started dating, our families have shared holidays, vacations, and countless memories together.

Kane’s parents, Wayne and Debbie, live only 40 minutes away and are very active in the lives of Kane’s sister Kylee’s children, Sydnee and Harper. Seeing the bond they share gives us a glimpse of the loving relationship they will have with our child.

Emily’s parents, Brent and Susie, live near Rockford, along with much of her family. Despite being a little farther away, their “go, go, go” spirit means we see them often. Between Emily’s siblings and our nieces and nephews, our child will have plenty of cousins to grow up alongside.

Our circle extends beyond family, too. Many of our closest friends have children who already know us as “Aunt Emily” and “Uncle Kane,” giving our future child an even larger community of people ready to love and support them.

We both firmly believe experiences matter more than possessions. That’s why the gifts we give each other often involve an adventure—a concert, sporting event, road trip, or new place to explore together. Those experiences have given us memories we value far more than “things.”

That mindset has also shaped our love of travel. Together, we’ve explored historic sites across the United States, taken road trips with our dogs, gotten engaged in Austria, honeymooned in Ireland, and traveled through Europe with family.

For us, travel is about more than having fun. It gives us a chance to experience different cultures, perspectives, and ways of life. We cannot wait to share that sense of adventure and curiosity with our child.